The present invention relates to a bone reaming device, and in particular to a bone reaming device having an ablation device with a variable geometry, which geometry is remotely modifiable.
Surgeons are using minimally invasive surgical techniques on an increasing basis for the treatment of a wide variety of medical conditions. Such techniques typically involve the insertion of a surgical device through a natural body orifice or through a relatively small incision using a tube or cannula. In contrast, conventional surgical techniques typically involve a significantly larger incision and are therefore sometimes referred to as open surgery. Thus, as compared with conventional techniques, minimally invasive surgical techniques offer the advantages of minimizing trauma to healthy tissue, minimizing blood loss, reducing the risk of complications such as infection, and reducing recovery time. Further, certain minimally invasive surgical techniques can be performed under local anaesthesia or even, in some cases, without anaesthesia, and therefore enables surgeons to treat patients who would not tolerate the general anaesthesia required by conventional techniques.
Surgical procedures often require the formation of a cavity within either soft or hard tissue, including bone. Tissue cavities are formed for a wide variety of reasons, such as for the removal of diseased tissue, for harvesting tissue in connection with a biopsy or autogenous transplant, and for implant fixation. To achieve the benefits associated with minimally invasive techniques, tissue cavities should be formed by creating only a relatively small access opening in the target tissue. An instrument or device then can be inserted through the opening and used to form a hollow cavity that is significantly larger than the access opening. Depending on the specific application, the shape of the desired cavity can be spherical, hemispherical or cylindrical, or any number of different combinations or variations of such shapes.
A tissue cavitation device and method is, for example, known from US 2002/0183758 A1, describing a percutaneous surgical device and method for creating a cavity within tissue during a minimally invasive procedure. The cavitation device includes a shaft interconnected to a flexible cutting element. The flexible cutting element has a means to move toward a shape suitable for forming a cavity in tissue.
Further, a surgical rotary abrader is known from US 2003/0083681 A1, describing an apparatus for use as a surgical hand piece including a body, a rotatable shaft extending from the body and including a tissue contacting component such as a burr, and an outer tube connected to the body and surrounding at least a portion of the shaft.
However, presently known solutions for a reaming device lack of a capability of tracking particular forms of the cavity to be formed owing to the more or less fixed geometry of the head of such devices.